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Nepal Quake Toll Tops 7,500

With crews digging through collapsed buildings and the remnants of landslides, the government said a total of more than 7,500 people had died as a result of the April 25 quake with another 14,500 injured.

Aid deliveries continued Tuesday in Nepal, where some outlying areas remained difficult to reach more than a week after a massive earthquake shook the Himalayan nation. The United Nations says 8 million people - more than one quarter of Nepal’s population - have been affected by the disaster, VoA reported.

That number includes nearly two million children, and UNICEF said Monday a plane delivered 40 metric tons of aid as part of an effort to provide clean water and prevent any outbreak of water-borne diseases.

European officials say just 60 EU citizens remain unaccounted for, down from the 1,000 estimated by an official last week. On Sunday, police said a 101-year-old man was found about 80 kilometers northwest of the capital, while rescue workers found three other survivors buried in debris in the northeast.

Officials said nine days after the quake, hopes of finding more survivors are fast fading and the death toll could climb “much higher” than the current.

Suraya Prasad Silwal, the home ministry secretary, said a US aircraft would airlift victims out of remote areas that suffered some of the worst devastation following the quake.

The UN said it is looking at a wider array of options for getting supplies to people in the most remote areas, including transporting provisions on the ground through India.